Gillian Leigh Anderson (born August 9, 1968) is a film, television, and theatre actress whose credits include the roles of Special Agent Dana Scully in FOX Television's long-running and critically acclaimed drama series The X-Files, ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies' film The House of Mirth (2000), and Lady Dedlock in the successful BBC production of Charles Dickens' Bleak House.